Good Morning, readers! This morning I woke up in the lovely home of Rebecca Sweet (Harmony in the Garden), who is hosting me while we attend the San Francisco Flower and Garden Show this week! I flew in Tuesday morning and began tweeting about it all while Rebecca’s husband Tom tried out his pomegranite cosmos on me and Rebecca and her wonderful caterers set up for her afternoon pre-show party.
I can’t even begin to tell you how wonderful it is to be here, but since I’m writing a post about it, I must try! After 6 months of blogging and tweeting with scores of quick-witted and knowledgeable garden peeps, I finally met many of them in person at Rebecca’s soiree. I met Jayme Jenkins of aHaModern Living, Katie Elser-Peters of The Garden of Words, Christina Salwitz aka The Garden Coach & her husband, Billy Goodnick (who’s just a nutcase and there’s no other way to describe it), Debra Lee Baldwin the succulent goddess, Elayne Takemoto from Annie’s Annuals (along with her Annie’s cohorts Claire and Kelly), Alice Joyce of Bay Area Tendrils, Susan Morrison, Laura Schaub, Apel Mjausson (who’s just a great garden girl), Patty Craft, Matt Moore, Pam “Brown Thumb Mama”, Daffodil Planter (for goodness sakes, we keep calling her Daffodil but I think her parents call her Charlotte)….I know I’m leaving someone out, so forgive me.
Elayne, Kelly & Claire (Annie's Annuals), Debra Lee Baldwin and Billy Goodnick
Rebecca’s home and garden are just magical–I’m talking straight out of Better Homes and Gardens here–and she and her husband Tom couldn’t be more gracious and fun-loving hosts. Word is that the party went until around midnight, but this Texas party girl fizzled at about 10:30 (12:30 a.m. my time). These California garden types are not for the faint of heart, if you know what I mean.
Jayme Jenkins
Susan Morrison
Rebecca Sweet
Christina Salwitz
Laura Schaub
So what’s the deal with the knitted Viking hat? If you want one, you’ll have to ask Elayne of Annie’s Annuals; after joking about it on Twitter for months, she actually made this one for me! It made the rounds upon the heads of all the visiting dignitaries, as you can see. Although, at one point of the evening, I was in a very deep and intense group conversation when I chimed in with “That’s just ridiculous!” or some such outrage, and when I was greeted with silence I was forced to observe, “You all can’t take me seriously with this hat on my head, can you?”
So many, many thanks and high-fives to Rebecca and Tom for opening up their house and garden to us all, and for creating such a wonderfully memorable start to an incredible week at The San Francisco Flower and Garden Show! Keep checking back for more posts on the actual show; the first full day was yesterday and I was blown away by the creativity of the designers–you will be, too!
{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
What fun! You know, when I first saw everyone in the hat, I thought you’d brought a Texas longhorn hat and were making everyone try it on. Ha!
I thought it was a Water Buffalo hat, but if you say it’s a Viking hat, ok…
You are officially having TOO MUCH FUN!
Pace yourself, dear.
What fun. And what a lovely group of people. And the hat is amazing. It looks awesome on everyone.
You are lovely, Jenny!
Delighted to have met you, and as is the case, also sorry we didn’t have more time to curl up together and chat one-on-one.
xoxo
Alice
buzzing about these days at: Alice’s Garden Travel Buzz
Why is it that everyone else looks so cute in this hat and I look like Shrek?
I’ll post all of the hat pics on my FB fan page!
Jenny: What a fun time getting to visit with you and all the other Twits (wait, that didn’t come out the way I intended; crap, you know what I mean). The hat was a big success, but the horns weren’t quite structurally up to the job. You might want to seek an endorsement contract from Viagra. Anyway, it’s about 1 a.m. and I’ve had it trying to encapsulate the past few days for my Fine Gardening blog. I’m pulling the plug, but hoping I’ll bump into you a few more times at the show. Isn’t it amazing what a community we’ve built from our keyboards and mobile phones. Boggles the mind. Be well.
What a great post! I’m so jealous of all of you!! Have a GREAT time this weekend and don’t let one opportunity pass you by!
These garden people are really fun. Too bad I missed out on this tweetup. I’m here in SF though and already met most of you.
Shirley Bovshow